Neon Tetra / Tetra Tank

[three-fingers]

I'd say 6.5 is the optimal pH for a lot of Amazon tetras, my black neons spawn in it all the time .

Yeah, loads of people go half tap water and half ro water, sounds like a good idea .

To make your neons more active you could add some active (but not aggressive) larger fish to your tank.

Something like 6 rosy barbs or 8+ tiger barbs (tiger barbs need big groups otherwise they can be aggressive).

Giant danios would be good too, but they generally stay near the top.

Just add lots of indian almond leaves and bogwood to your tank to lower that pH.

Soak the bogwood to get rid of those tannins if you dont want them though.

The tanins will make the water look like weak tea (without the milk) and lower the pH a lot, like the blackwaters of the Amazon .

 

[Snake42490]

im working on rigging some stuff up now haha.. im going to take a tube from the ro unit and allow it to fill up a reservoir tank. so if i mix the tap water with the ro water will i not have to bother with some putting some additive into the water then? also have you heard anything about using Tetra Black Water Extract? as was mentioned earlier i was curious to how this stuff works. how many times a day should i feed the tetras? right now im only feeding them once and im doing that at night. but i think i should do it a bit earlier. they seem to slow down and go into sleep mode around 7 or 8.. thanks again for all your help!

 

[Griz]

Black water extract has benefits for tetras and other fish that are native to blackwater conditions. I use it in my Amazon tank. It does stain the water but this is the natural environment for these fish and many (including me) quite like the look. It seems to bring out the colours in the fish. If you want to get a bit more "into it" do a search on filtering with peat. Pretty much the same thing as using blackwater extract; a bit more trouble though.

Even though your fish may be acustomed to an alkaline pH, they should do better in a lower (neutral 7.0) pH. I would use R/O if you have it to 'slowly' lower to the pH to neutral.

Feeding is best done more often and in smaller amounts if you can manage it. Morning and evening would be a good routine. Variety is always best. My tetras (fireheads and cardinals) get flake every day. Frozen brine shrimp or baby brine shrimp every other day and bloodworm about once or twice a week. They also like spirulina tabs which I give them about every other evening.

 

[fishlette]

would each of those fish be ok in groups of 6 ? why would you not recommend doing that

hiya

i keep a range of tetras and generally keep them in shoals of 6. i have 6 neons, 6 glowlights(hardy, good beginners), 6 lamp eyes (relateively hardy), 4 bloodfins (hardy, good for beginners) and 6 pristellas(very hardy). i keep all these guys at a pH of between 6.5 and 7.0 at the highest and everyone does well. most range from 5.0 - 7.0 pH and cant tolerate dramatic water changes easily. i wouldnt recommend keeping them at the pH levels you are talking about. this is excessively high for tetras. salt does heighten the pH usually by between .2 to .4 and while they are not tolerant to high levels of salt i do add salt every 2nd water change to combat any parasites issues that may be there with no detrimental effects. however when doing this i have to watch the pH and sometimes use a little pH down to keep things consistent. while people tend to fuss a lot about neons etc being a little hard to keep etc i find following basic tank rules there are no probs. keep you water between 21-29C, watch your pH and feed them a range of foods from live/frozen, tropical flakes to veggies flakes. this is my guys diet. and of course provide a well cycled tank.

if you have a cycled tank where your neons are living happy and healthy then the other tetras you want will also be happy in there. put plants in, some wood as was mentioned earlier and keep an eye on your water quality and you should be fine. i would suggest at first if you are somewhat worried that you buy only 1 shoal of fishies and see how they all go. i will probably be run down for saying what i have but i can only relate personal experience and learning. i have not yet lost a tetra in any of my tanks.

enjoy your tetras. i find seeing as most tetras have some part of them that 'glow' they make and amazing addition to aquariums. keep them at a number of 1" per gallon. because im a little fussy i make it 1" per gallon and a half but this isnt necessary. you have enough room for a bunch of tetras

 

[Snake42490]

could you by any chance put some pics of your tank up so i could see what it looks like with black water extract? everything is so hard to get around here.. none of our pet stores carry this lol.... im used to that by now though!

 

[arif_93]

get loads of scools ur tank is big enough so get 6-8 of each species of tetras u like